make layout-combinations more intuitive

[lukasvrenner]

I'm submitting a…

[ ] Bug
[x] Feature Request
[ ] Documentation Request
[ ] Other (Please describe in detail)

Current Behavior

Sometimes, it can be useful to have windows sorted into multiple layout types within one parent container. Currently, the visual aids, while logical, can sometimes be a bit confusing. For example, say you have three terminals open. One is in a parent container in tabbed mode (let's call this term1), and the other two in a child container (term2 and term3), in stacked mode. When term1 is focused, the appearance of the title bars makes somewhat intuitive sense. The current focused window on the right, and the stacked container on the left. However, once you move focus to the other container, spacial intuition breaks down. Suddenly, you see four title bars. It's suddenly unclear which of the two tabbed containers is focused (neither are highlighted!), and, despite, based on the position of the title bars, you should be able to move focus up to the tabbed containers.

Desired Behavior

At least in my opinion, it would make much more spacial sense if, instead of displaying sometimes two, and sometimes four title bars, users would always see three. On the left there would be one title bar (albeit twice as tall as usual), and the right side would contain two, normal sized title bars (stacked, because they're in stacked mode). Visually, it would be much easier to understand which window is currently focused, and what to do to get to another one.

Impact

This change would increase usability and user-friendliness, encouraging new users, reduce confusion, and reduce the amount of mental thought needed.

[ ] This feature requires new configuration and/or commands

Environment

Output of i3 --moreversion 2>&-:

i3 version: 4.23

- Linux Distribution & Version: Fedora Linux
- Are you using a compositor (e.g., xcompmgr or compton): No

[i3bot]

Please note that new features which require additional configuration will usually not be considered. We are happy with the feature set of i3 and want to focus in fixing bugs instead. We do accept feature requests, however, and will evaluate whether the added benefit (clearly) outweighs the complexity it adds to i3.

Keep in mind that i3 provides a powerful way to interact with it through its IPC interface: https://i3wm.org/docs/ipc.html.